Scottish politics

Iluvandy: yes as people are going through this recession I think many of the doubts people have are going out the window. The economy up here needs a boost but the UK government has pulled the plug on any new investment despite the need for more council housing. I am sure shovel ready projects would help the economy a great deal. All the UK government has done is to make the prospect of it getting better non exsistant.

To be honest, I don't think the council tax freeze is a big issue. I think the public are intelligent enough to know that it can't be frozen forever, and that it must inevitably rise after the next election, or independence or whatever, the only question is by how much. That will be the hard sell.

I am looking forward to next year. Whatever the result of the referendum I think a healthy informed debate about Scotland's place within the UK is long overdue. A yes vote is by no means impossible, so much will depend on the particular political circumstances at the time. My suspicion is that the public will be so baffled by conflicting arguments and the myopia of the status quo that the No vote will probably prevail. However, the reality is that if over or around 40% of Scots vote yes (which seems pretty likely), that still raises some pretty serious questions about the future of the UK.

I am in favour of independence wholeheartedly, I just feel that most Scots have been brainwashed by this 'Scotland is so inferior it can't survive on its own' mentality. How any rational person can look at the current political make-up at Westminster and think it serves our national interests is something which completely baffles me.

We are a peculiarly hypocritical nation, the sort that will belt out the national anthem at Murrayfield of Hampden, and yet shy away from nationhood when it is actually there to be grasped, rather than nostalgically re-imagined.

This is because I'm guessing that independence is an article of faith to you - you see it as an end in itself rather than a means and there is no price too high as long as that end is achieved. Marxists say the same kind of things that you're saying about people who reject their worldview - they too think that people who disagree with them are too stupid to see The Truth - they even have a term for it - they call it False Consciousness.

Housing is one of the devolved policy areas, so any investment (or lack of) is entirely the responsibility of the Scottish parliament. It's pretty clear you've got no idea how Scotland (or the UK) is actually governed. For starters, take a look here. Hilariously, most of the things you whine about are actually devolved policy areas.

O Booger I thought you had got lost what a pity such a lovely person who likes to insult people who have a different view from yourself. Still I believe people should be free to have a different point of view from yourself IT IS CALLED DEMOCRACY or are Scots not entitled to have a point of view. I have'nt heard a person who is so negative even about tennis you are all doom and gloom come on SMILE it won't kill you.

Housing is one of the devolved policy areas, so any investment (or lack of) is entirely the responsibility of the Scottish parliament. It's pretty clear you've got no idea how Scotland (or the UK) is actually governed. For starters, take a look here. Hilariously, most of the things you whine about are actually devolved policy areas.

I believe people should be free to have a different point of view from yourself IT IS CALLED DEMOCRACY or are Scots not entitled to have a point of view.

You're fully entitled to have a view. Just don't be surprised when someone points out that they don't coincide with reality. The simple truth of the matter is most things you blame "Westminster" for are actually under the purview of the Sottish Parliament.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said Scotland's political union with the rest of the UK "goes with the grain of history".

He told an audience in Edinburgh it was wrong to advocate independence by putting the blame for problems on others.

Mr Blair also warned against "retreating into something smaller".

Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds conference, Mr Blair said: "I feel about Britain separating out from Europe the way, frankly, as we are here in Edinburgh in Scotland, the way I feel about Scotland separating from the UK."

He suggested that both the UK Independence Party and the Scottish National Party suggest the problems of the country "are someone else" and that "the cure is separating ourselves out from that someone else".

Mr Blair, who left Downing Street in 2007 after 10 years in office, said this view was misguided and was "neither the cause, or the cure".

'Single biggest market'

"The fact is, in a world that is ever more interconnected, to disconnect yourself, either Scotland from the UK or Britain from Europe, is just not sensible because many of the challenges we face are the challenges you are going to have to face together, you are going to have to get solutions together," he said.

"I think ultimately, for Scotland, being part of the UK is in Scottish interests, it is in English interests, it is in the interests of the UK as a whole, because it goes with the grain of history.

"When you have got the single biggest commercial market on your doorstep, why on earth would you separate yourself off from that - however frustrating it is?

"You should be in there to try and win the battles, build the alliances and make the thing work because you can be sure the future is in being part of something bigger and not retreating into something smaller."

Put it this way the UK government has it within its powers to allow Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland to have a Federal System of Government with all the powers that go with it. I am sure this would satisfy all parties concerned. But just to sit there and cogitate is getting nowhere. As for the economy Boogers because of all the cuts and lack of money, the UK government needs to kickstart the economy by building new homes and other major projects. Also you must remember that the Scottish government has had its block grant reduced. So are we going to put up with George Osbourne cutting everything in site and getting nowhere except everyone's standard of living going down and a decrease in wages. The whole problem is that Westminster has control of the purse strings without oil and gas revenues we would all be floating down the Thames .

I'm fed up hearing about Scotland and its oil. It isn't going to keep flowing indefinitely - 40 years at most according to some recent predictions.

Also it concerns me that Scotland spent more cash than it raised last year. It's all very well saying that our debt levels are lower than that of the UK as a whole, but the fact remains that it would appear that the Scottish government cannot control its finances. How would we stand then if we became independent?